Post on 03-Feb-2023
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume X
Journal of Information Technology Management
A Publication of the Association of Management
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM
BASED INVESTIGATION
BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSI
BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSI
JUSTICE OPARA
BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSIjoparamartins@bournemouth.ac.uk
Cloud computing has the potential to play
contribution to the growth and competitiveness of enterprises mainly for SMEs. By adopting cloud computing services SMEs
will be able to obtain the latest technology, without the need for upf
computing from an SME stance. Motivations, requirements, and concerns surrounding the adoption of cloud computing are
discussed. A survey of 300 SMEs conducted in the UK shows an interest in exploiting
shown concerns with regards to security and vendor lock
computing adoption. The findings are expected to assist SMEs in their adoption of cloud computing servic
inform service providers with respect to end
Keywords: Cloud computing, Cloud computing migration
INTRODUCTION
The rapid evolvement in the contemporary
business market has made competition to be at the highest
level, thereby resulting products and skills to become
obsolete [1]. Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs)
usually have less advantages in such a competition d
their limited resources. This has restricted SMEs from
accessing new technologies of IT services. SMEs play a
vital role for economies by offering large amount of
employments [2]. To survive, SMEs need to find and
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY-BASED INVESTIGATION
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume XXIV, Number 1, 2013
Journal of Information Technology Management
ISSN #1042-1319
A Publication of the Association of Management
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVE
BASED INVESTIGATION
REZA SAHANDI
BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY rsahandi@bournemouth.ac.uk
ADEL ALKHALIL
BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY aalkhalil@bournemouth.ac.uk
JUSTICE OPARA-MARTINS
BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY joparamartins@bournemouth.ac.uk
ABSTRACT
Cloud computing has the potential to play a major role in addressing inefficiencies and make a fundamental
contribution to the growth and competitiveness of enterprises mainly for SMEs. By adopting cloud computing services SMEs
will be able to obtain the latest technology, without the need for upfront cost. This paper explores the perception of cloud
computing from an SME stance. Motivations, requirements, and concerns surrounding the adoption of cloud computing are
discussed. A survey of 300 SMEs conducted in the UK shows an interest in exploiting cloud services. However, SMEs have
shown concerns with regards to security and vendor lock-in. These concerns could have influenced the speed of cloud
computing adoption. The findings are expected to assist SMEs in their adoption of cloud computing servic
inform service providers with respect to end-users’ concerns.
Cloud computing migration, Cloud computing services, SMEs
The rapid evolvement in the contemporary
business market has made competition to be at the highest
level, thereby resulting products and skills to become
obsolete [1]. Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs)
usually have less advantages in such a competition due to
their limited resources. This has restricted SMEs from
accessing new technologies of IT services. SMEs play a
vital role for economies by offering large amount of
employments [2]. To survive, SMEs need to find and
implement new strategic ideas at an
gain a competitive advantage over their rivals within the
global market. “The need to quickly respond to business
demands is imperative in this new age. Waiting six to
eight weeks for a new server deployment is
unacceptable.”[3]. A new strategy should enable SMEs to
incorporate new technologies, reduce costs, develop
process innovation, and enhance speed of implementation.
A developed IT infrastructure can remove some of the
barriers to global competition and allow SMEs to be more
efficient, competitive and also provide a degree of
flexibility.
BASED INVESTIGATION
1
Journal of Information Technology Management
PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY-
a major role in addressing inefficiencies and make a fundamental
contribution to the growth and competitiveness of enterprises mainly for SMEs. By adopting cloud computing services SMEs
ront cost. This paper explores the perception of cloud
computing from an SME stance. Motivations, requirements, and concerns surrounding the adoption of cloud computing are
cloud services. However, SMEs have
in. These concerns could have influenced the speed of cloud
computing adoption. The findings are expected to assist SMEs in their adoption of cloud computing services; they may also
implement new strategic ideas at an even faster pace to
gain a competitive advantage over their rivals within the
global market. “The need to quickly respond to business
demands is imperative in this new age. Waiting six to
eight weeks for a new server deployment is
strategy should enable SMEs to
incorporate new technologies, reduce costs, develop
process innovation, and enhance speed of implementation.
A developed IT infrastructure can remove some of the
barriers to global competition and allow SMEs to be more
ent, competitive and also provide a degree of
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY-BASED INVESTIGATION
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume XXIV, Number 1, 2013
2
Cloud Computing has the potential to play a
major role in addressing inefficiencies and make a
fundamental contribution to the growth and
competitiveness of organisations mainly for SMEs. Cloud
computing offers a new pathway to business agility and
supports a faster time to market by offering ready-to-
consume cloud enabled resources such as IT infrastructure
as a service, software platforms, and business
applications. These services can all be accessed on-
demand and provide support to new business requirement
far faster than acquiring, installing, configuring and
operating IT resources in house [4].
Much of research on cloud computing has
concentrated on two broad issues: i) business agility and
ii) catalysts for more innovation. However, difficulties
still exist in deciding on the approach for implementing
cloud computing services for SMEs. To assist SMEs to
adopt cloud computing services, this study aims to answer
the research question: “How do SMEs perceive ‘Cloud
Computing’?” (i.e. their requirements and concerns). This
paper, discusses the outcome of a survey conducted with
300 SMEs in the United Kingdom (refer to section 3 for
full analysis of survey). The study has found that SMEs
are highly interested in cloud computing due to the
reduction in cost, flexibility and scalability of IT
resources that the cloud offer. The study also shows that
SMEs have concerns about security and vender lock-in
with respect to the adoption of cloud computing.
The paper is organized as follows. Section 2
presents the concept of cloud computing in a wider
context. Section 3 presents a survey that explored the
views of SMEs in respect of cloud computing services.
Section 4 provides discussion of SMEs migration to cloud
computing. The conclusions drawn from the research and
survey analysis are presented in Section 5.
BACKGROUND
The Concept of Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is an all-embracing and rapidly
evolving concept; hence the understanding of cloud
computing by SMEs can assist in their approaches for
cloud computing services utilisation [5]. The cloud
computing concept is based on a set of many pre-existing
and well researched concepts such as distributed and grid
computing, and virtualisation. Although, many of the
concepts do not appear to be new, the real innovation of
cloud computing lies in the way it provides computing
services to customers [6]. The National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) has provided a broadly
accepted definition of cloud computing that is “a model
for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a
shared pool of configurable computing resources that can
be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal
management effort or service provider interaction” [7].
Organisations and enterprises are often being
confronted by conflicting and exaggerated claims of how
cloud computing dramatically transforms their industries.
Therefore, it should be mentioned that the marketing hype
and meagre analyses from many vendors, IT analysts, and
users have an impact on the obscurity of the cloud
capability and incumbent issues. Nevertheless according
to the survey conducted in this paper, just over half of
surveyed SMEs claimed to know what cloud computing
is, as illustrated in Figure1, whereas 25.1% were not sure
about its term. A survey conducted by ACCA [8] also
paints a similar picture with just over 50% of respondents
saying that SMEs have very limited or no understanding
of cloud computing.
A recent study conducted by Craig shows that
there is an increase of 14% of SMEs in understanding
cloud computing [9]. The increase of cloud computing
understanding is expected to accelerate the cloud adoption
by SMEs. Industry research giants including Gartner,
Forrester and other industry research analysts predicted
that a substantial number of the world’s top enterprises
would have migrated their IT needs to the cloud offerings
by 2011 [10] Furthermore, IBM predicted that cloud
computing migration will be more than double by
2014[11].
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume X
Figure 1: SMEs unders
Cloud Computing Architecture
Cloud computing architecture relies on
virtualisation techniques that create multiple virtual IT
environments. These techniques leverage the efficiency
and flexibility of cloud computing services. Virtualisation
plays also a vital role in cloud computing by providing the
capability to isolate physical server failures or slow server
Figure 2: Cloud Computing Models (Adapted from NIST [12])
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY-BASED INVESTIGATION
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume XXIV, Number 1, 2013
Figure 1: SMEs understanding of what Cloud Computing
Cloud computing architecture relies on
virtualisation techniques that create multiple virtual IT
environments. These techniques leverage the efficiency
exibility of cloud computing services. Virtualisation
plays also a vital role in cloud computing by providing the
capability to isolate physical server failures or slow server
responses, from users services through migration to
virtual machine.
The cloud is composed of five essential
characteristics; four deployment models that are
represented as layers in the cloud technology stack:
ranging from the cloud infrastructure (Infrastructure as a
Service or IaaS); cloud application platform (Platform as
a Service or PaaS); and cloud application (Software as a
Service or SaaS) [4]. Figure 2 shows such a structure.
Cloud Computing Models (Adapted from NIST [12])
BASED INVESTIGATION
3
tanding of what Cloud Computing
responses, from users services through migration to
s composed of five essential
characteristics; four deployment models that are
represented as layers in the cloud technology stack:
ranging from the cloud infrastructure (Infrastructure as a
Service or IaaS); cloud application platform (Platform as
e or PaaS); and cloud application (Software as a
Service or SaaS) [4]. Figure 2 shows such a structure.
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY-BASED INVESTIGATION
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume XXIV, Number 1, 2013
4
The cloud offers several deployment models -
management, cost, and security of these clouds depend on
the choice of the organisation in either opting to buy and
operate its own cloud or to obtain cloud services from a
third-party. Due to the clouds’ elastic and usage-based
pricing model, hosted cloud-based applications from a
third-party (i.e. public clouds) probably offer the most
attractive solutions to SMEs. Public cloud service
offerings will allow new and smaller organisations to
benefit from enterprise level services, security and
products, at a reduced cost [13]. Moreover common
services such as e-mail and other office-based application
suites commonly consumed by small companies equally
can be obtained from major vendors like Google, which
uses its private cloud to provide these services to regular
outside users. From this simple example, it can be seen
that using a pay-as-you-go utility cloud computing models
are beneficial for many SMEs.
Cloud Computing Applications and Services
Cloud computing offers its services in three
deployment models: (IaaS), (PaaS), and (SaaS). IaaS is a
set of IT equipments that are owned, managed, and
maintained by a cloud provider and then used by a cloud
customer in a pay-as-you go manner. IaaS services
include storage, where virtualised storage is delivered on
demand which allows customers to pay only for the
amount they use. IaaS also provides other services such as
backup and recovery, Content Distribution Network
(CDN), service management and platform hosting.
PaaS provides infrastructure and middleware
without the need to manage the underlying resources
(hardware and software), allowing cloud costumers to
create and control their applications through the cloud.
These services include databases, deployment,
development applications integration, and administration
tools. An example of the PaaS services is Google Cloud
SQL, which allows developers to create and control their
databases without requiring the installation of any
software for database management, maintenance, and
administration.
SaaS allows cloud customers to access
applications and their associated data without the
complexity of buying and installing in-house applications.
SaaS is the most popular cloud deployment; it includes a
wide range of applications. In terms of business, SaaS can
cover accounting applications, sales, collaboration,
management information systems (MIS), customer
relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource
planning (ERP), billing, and human resource management
(HRM). Sales Force is a common example of SaaS that
provides innovative and easy to access CRM tools to
cloud customers.
A study conducted by Chalef [15] showed that
there are 10 cloud-based applications that provide SMEs a
competitive edge. For human recourses, cloud-based
applications such as Resumator and Paychex can enable
SMEs to perform different processes and managing hiring
workflow. Moreover, cloud-based applications such as
SugarCRM and Pardot have the ability to provide SMEs
easy to use and flexible CRM application that can
improve business processes and customer needs. Google
Docs and Carbonite are also valuable cloud-based
applications that can enhance SMEs’ collaboration and
backup services.
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES
PERSPECTIVE (THE SURVEY)
The survey attempted to explore SMEs’
requirements and their concerns in respect of cloud
computing services. The study started by investigating the
driving factors that encouraged SMEs to migrate to cloud
computing services and then explored the strategies
adopted by SMEs for could utilisation. For example, were
the SMEs planning to use the cloud for their current
business activities, new business operations, or did they
not have plans to use the cloud? The survey also explored
the applications that were most likely to be outsourced
from SMEs’ point of view. Moreover, the study reflects
the current issues hindering cloud computing adoption
which were raised by the participants in the survey.
The methodology employed was based on a
quantitative online survey questionnaire approach. The
target population consisted of SMEs situated within the
United Kingdom. Participants varied between IT decision-
makers and managers within their respective business
enterprise. Participants were from organisations of
different sizes and from diverse industry sectors. Over
300 UK SMEs were invited to participate. A total of 169
questionnaire responses were received. This gives a
satisfactory response rate of 56 per cent for this kind of
studies where response rates below 15 per cent become
questionable [14]. Table 1 provides a socio-demographic
profile of the organisations and participates in the survey.
The sample was slightly dominated by SMEs sized
between 51 and 250.
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY-BASED INVESTIGATION
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume XXIV, Number 1, 2013
5
Table 1: Socio-Demographic Profile of Participant Organisation
Organisation Size Percentage
1 – 24 20.5%
25 – 50 19.3%
51 – 250 41.0%
More than 250 19.3%
Total: 100%
Organisation Sector Percentage
Manufacturing and
industrial market
15.6%
Financial services 3.0%
Public sector & healthcare 11.6%
Business sector 22.3%
ICT services 15.0%
Trading sector 7.8%
Other 24.7%
Total: 100%
The Motivations of SMEs to Migrate to
Cloud-based Services
In order to observe which of the cloud
advantages mostly motivate SMEs to adopt cloud-based
services, the survey explored “what were the reasons
behind using cloud computing”. Figure 3 shows the
analysis of the motivations that the SMEs provided.
As shown in Figure 3, cost reduction (45.5%)
and mobility and convenience in accessing applications
(44.9%) are seen by SMEs to be the key motivations
behind adopting cloud computing services. This shows
that SMEs are aware of the advantages of cloud
computing services and its importance for business
agility. In agreement with this finding, a recent study
conducted by Craig [9] concluded that cost reduction is
still the top priority for SMEs. The ability for cloud users
gaining convenient access from anywhere and anytime
were also found to be main factors for adopting cloud
computing services. This indicates that SMEs are
interested in access to applications and data from
anywhere, on-demand, through cloud computing.
Therefore, the cloud is remarkably an ideal IT solution for
businesses whose employees require on-demand remote
access to tools and data.
SMEs find ubiquity and flexibility of cloud
computing interesting too (38.9%). This indicates the
need for innovative solutions that would enable SMEs to
gain competitive advantage over their rivals. Increasing
computing capacity and providing greater IT efficiency
were also found to be important reasons for using cloud
computing services (32.9%) and (31.7%) respectively.
Green IT, reliable access, backup, disaster recovery,
maximising asset utilisation, and adding redundancy to
network infrastructure were also reasons of adopting the
cloud but they appear to be less important motivations to
use the cloud from SMEs point of view.
SMEs Strategies for Cloud Services
Utilisation
The cloud concept offer many options to start-
ups and SMEs to decide how to utilise cloud computing
services. Start-ups may decide to launch all their
applications on the cloud, while more established firms
might decide on moving existing software assets
gradually to the cloud environment. Moreover some
cloud-based services do interoperate with on-premise
software so instead of spending more on renting and/or
buying new software licenses, rather benefits can be
reaped from applications that interoperate with vendor
platforms. To explore SMEs plans for utilising cloud
computing services, this study raised the question” what
do you intended to use cloud computing services for”.
Figure 4 shows the analysis of SMEs plans.
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume X
Figure 3: Drivers for Clou
Figure 4: SMEs plan to use Cloud Computing servic
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY-BASED INVESTIGATION
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume XXIV, Number 1, 2013
ivers for Cloud Computing Adoption by UK SMEs
Figure 4: SMEs plan to use Cloud Computing service for their business operations
BASED INVESTIGATION
6
d Computing Adoption by UK SMEs
e for their business operations
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume X
Figure 4 indicates that as many as 32.5 % of
SMEs plan to use cloud-based services for their current
business operations. This signifies a high interest amongst
SMEs to find efficient solutions that develop their
business operations. It also shows that SMEs are aware
that cloud services have the ability to interoperate with
on-premise systems. On the other hand, the study suggests
that cloud computing should be pitched to consumers in a
clear and lucid style seeing as SMEs 27 % of respondents
in the survey have indicated that they have no plan in
place to use cloud computing services yet. Furthermore,
20.2% of the surveyed SMEs don’t know if they would
use cloud computing services.
Some SMEs (17.8 %) plan to use cloud
computing services for new business operations. This
indicates that SMEs are aware of the importance of
business agility and they find cloud computin
strategy that enables to develop innovative business
operations. These strategies could contribute to the
growth in dynamic and evolving business environments
and allow SMEs to gain competitive advantage within the
global market.
Figure 5: Hosting services are the most likely IT services to be outsourced
Concerns of Adopting Cloud Computing
In order to determine which issues mostly affect
the adoption of cloud computing, the study further
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY-BASED INVESTIGATION
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume XXIV, Number 1, 2013
Figure 4 indicates that as many as 32.5 % of
based services for their current
operations. This signifies a high interest amongst
SMEs to find efficient solutions that develop their
business operations. It also shows that SMEs are aware
that cloud services have the ability to interoperate with
he study suggests
that cloud computing should be pitched to consumers in a
clear and lucid style seeing as SMEs 27 % of respondents
in the survey have indicated that they have no plan in
place to use cloud computing services yet. Furthermore,
surveyed SMEs don’t know if they would
Some SMEs (17.8 %) plan to use cloud
computing services for new business operations. This
indicates that SMEs are aware of the importance of
business agility and they find cloud computing as a
strategy that enables to develop innovative business
operations. These strategies could contribute to the
growth in dynamic and evolving business environments
and allow SMEs to gain competitive advantage within the
Services Most Likely to Be Exploited
In order to meet SMEs demands, the study has
additionally tried to find out the type of IT services and
applications that SMEs are interested to exploit or most
likely to be outsourced from SMEs point view. Figure 5
illustrates the analysis of requirements for these IT
services and applications.
Figure 5 shows that SMEs draw on the following
cloud-based service offerings: hosting services (55.4%),
backup services and hosted emails (41.4 %) and data
storage (40.1%) respectively. This signifies that SMEs
show high interest in reducing their IT infrastructures by
having access to these services on
in support of a new business requirement instead of fixed
in house IT equipments. These services usually require
not only costly IT equipments but also appropriate
management. Therefore, outsourcing these services would
allow SMEs to cut cost, improve flexibility, and also to
focus on innovations and creation of their business values.
SMEs have also shown interest in outsourcing booking
systems seeing as 22.9%. These applications would
improve SMEs relationships with customers.
Figure 5: Hosting services are the most likely IT services to be outsourced
rns of Adopting Cloud Computing
In order to determine which issues mostly affect
the adoption of cloud computing, the study further
explored SMEs’ concerns of cloud
6 illustrates issues raised by participants hindering the
cloud computing adoption rate. Security and vender lock
in were raised by SMEs as their major concerns.
BASED INVESTIGATION
7
ly to Be Exploited
In order to meet SMEs demands, the study has
additionally tried to find out the type of IT services and
applications that SMEs are interested to exploit or most
likely to be outsourced from SMEs point view. Figure 5
lysis of requirements for these IT
Figure 5 shows that SMEs draw on the following
based service offerings: hosting services (55.4%),
backup services and hosted emails (41.4 %) and data
storage (40.1%) respectively. This signifies that SMEs
show high interest in reducing their IT infrastructures by
having access to these services on-demand and operated
in support of a new business requirement instead of fixed-
ese services usually require
not only costly IT equipments but also appropriate
management. Therefore, outsourcing these services would
allow SMEs to cut cost, improve flexibility, and also to
focus on innovations and creation of their business values.
s have also shown interest in outsourcing booking
systems seeing as 22.9%. These applications would
improve SMEs relationships with customers.
Figure 5: Hosting services are the most likely IT services to be outsourced
explored SMEs’ concerns of cloud-based services. Figure
6 illustrates issues raised by participants hindering the
uting adoption rate. Security and vender lock-
in were raised by SMEs as their major concerns.
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume X
Moreover, SMEs have also shown concern of other
aspects regarding the adoption of cloud computing. These
concerns were not found as significant as security and
vender lock-in; therefore they are not included in this
discussion.
Figure 6 shows that 54.6% (the second largest
percentage response to any question asked in the research)
of the surveyed SMEs indicated data protection and
privacy as the number one reason for not considering
cloud-based IT as a service. In contrast to the traditional
provision of onsite IT resources, the multi-tenant nature of
cloud computing usually raises the question in respect of
privacy, confidentiality and data integrity. Cloud
computing presents its own set of security issues coupled
with the risk and threats inherent in traditional IT
computing. The fact that consumers can tap into cloud
services using Web browsers, shows the benefits of
Figure 6: Barriers to Cloud Computing Adoption of SMEs in UK
DISCUSSION OF SMES
MIGRATION TO CLOUD
COMPUTING
With the current economic downturn, business
agility has become essential for enhancing commercial
success. In order for SMEs to survive their businesses, it
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY-BASED INVESTIGATION
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume XXIV, Number 1, 2013
Moreover, SMEs have also shown concern of other
aspects regarding the adoption of cloud computing. These
concerns were not found as significant as security and
in; therefore they are not included in this
Figure 6 shows that 54.6% (the second largest
percentage response to any question asked in the research)
of the surveyed SMEs indicated data protection and
or not considering
based IT as a service. In contrast to the traditional
tenant nature of
cloud computing usually raises the question in respect of
privacy, confidentiality and data integrity. Cloud
ng presents its own set of security issues coupled
with the risk and threats inherent in traditional IT
computing. The fact that consumers can tap into cloud
services using Web browsers, shows the benefits of
mobility and convenience on the one hand, but o
other, it has raised issues concerning data privacy and
security.
About half of the surveyed SMEs considered
vender lock-in as a major concern for adopting cloud
computing. Cloud computing users are concerned about
losing control of their data that c
cloud provider. Although the cloud providers implement
up-to-time and a secure IT infrastructure; consumers
continue suffering from the loss of control and lack of
trust problems [16]. To further substantiate on this matter
in agreement with StarUK [17], “for many people, the
issue is one of control: many IT managers believe that if
something is not under their direct oversight, then they
cannot know if it is secure until it has been compromised:
which is sometimes the hallmark of a p
service-based culture”.
Figure 6: Barriers to Cloud Computing Adoption of SMEs in UK
DISCUSSION OF SMES
MIGRATION TO CLOUD
With the current economic downturn, business
agility has become essential for enhancing commercial
success. In order for SMEs to survive their businesses, it
is significantly important to decrease time
Adopting cloud computing within an overall
can provide a real competitive advantage, improve
business performance and control the cost of IT resources
for SMEs [18]. Further, a recent research report found that
giving a third party control over the IT infrastructure of a
company can help reduce capital expenditure whilst
maximizing asset utilisation to provide a quantitative
BASED INVESTIGATION
8
mobility and convenience on the one hand, but on the
other, it has raised issues concerning data privacy and
About half of the surveyed SMEs considered
in as a major concern for adopting cloud
computing. Cloud computing users are concerned about
losing control of their data that could be locked-in by a
cloud provider. Although the cloud providers implement
time and a secure IT infrastructure; consumers
continue suffering from the loss of control and lack of
trust problems [16]. To further substantiate on this matter
ent with StarUK [17], “for many people, the
issue is one of control: many IT managers believe that if
something is not under their direct oversight, then they
cannot know if it is secure until it has been compromised:
which is sometimes the hallmark of a put upon, reactive,
Figure 6: Barriers to Cloud Computing Adoption of SMEs in UK
is significantly important to decrease time-to-market.
Adopting cloud computing within an overall IT strategy,
can provide a real competitive advantage, improve
business performance and control the cost of IT resources
for SMEs [18]. Further, a recent research report found that
giving a third party control over the IT infrastructure of a
lp reduce capital expenditure whilst
maximizing asset utilisation to provide a quantitative
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY-BASED INVESTIGATION
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume XXIV, Number 1, 2013
9
Return on Investment (RoI) and thereby eliminating costs
associated with in-house provision of the equipment
required for building up the infrastructure [19]. Cloud
computing can Also provide the IT resources required for
a scalable business, without demanding the IT budget of a
large enterprise to put these systems in place. In addition
to its capabilities, the cloud also comes with high speed of
implementation and a smooth upgrade pathway.
With the increase of competitiveness in the
contemporary business market, it is also vital for
organisations to build connection infrastructures that are;
fast enough to deliver real-time business processes and
flexible enough to continuously evolve in response to
dynamic business conditions. The cloud can automate
organisations’ IT resources which allow them to adapt to
changing demands of their business needs. Could
computing customers also can conveniently access to
business applications on the move, meaning staffs can
work flexibly from anywhere. cloud computing can
enable SMEs to focus on innovation and creation of
business values, thereby enhancing staff productivity
without requiring updating software, and other IT
equipments. Further, by effectively utilising the current
communication technology capabilities, SMEs can
compete with anyone, anytime, anywhere, and of any size
by using the cloud platform to deliver innovative services
quickly [13]. The potential benefits of cloud computing
have raised the IT expectations of SMEs beyond measure.
These advantages were seen by SMEs as key reasons for
migration to cloud computing (refer to the survey section
3.1). However, SMEs should ensure how well Service
Level Agreements (SLA) meet their business
requirements and guarantee the security. The cost
calculation in RoI and other factors such as the price of
the cloud service offerings, SLAs, compliances, and
licensing issues, are vital in migrating to the cloud and
should be considered when implementing a cloud strategy
for an organisation.
Achieving the potential benefits of cloud
computing requires each feature of the cloud platform to
support the key design principles of the cloud model –
either: SaaS, PaaS or IaaS. Migration to the cloud
environment requires more emphasis on business design
where cloud service will interface with business systems.
Therefore, the success of cloud computing is mainly
based on the efficient implementation of the architecture.
With cloud-based computing, applications run on
centralised virtual servers managed by the cloud provider
thereby eliminating the need for expensive equipments to
be at company’s site which could be capital intensive for
SMEs. The range of cloud-based services now offered by
vendors is growing simultaneously with the emergence of
varying cloud service providers. SMEs can find cloud-
based model of possibly everything from General-purpose
applications such as office, email, and collaboration
technologies to sales management and accounting
software [20]. Therefore, Along with the utilisation
strategy, it is important to perceive which applications
SMEs desire to exploit the cloud for. Despite its offerings
and ease of deployment, cloud computing requires careful
consideration by SMEs in areas such as strategic advice to
enable them to decide when and what computing
resources will be most efficient option to outsource [8].
Despite the enormous advantages that the cloud
can offer, cloud computing adoption has been at a slower
rate from what had been expected [21]. Security and
vender lock-in were raised by SMEs as major concerns of
migration to cloud computing (refer to the survey section
3.4). These concerns have caused a major hindrance to
cloud computing being adopted by SMEs.
The fact that before data can get into the cloud, it
has to progress outside a company’s firewall via an access
network, that makes data vulnerable to attacks. For
example, the most common way of accessing the cloud is
through a web browser. Therefore, cloud services may
share much vulnerability as any website, such as SQL
injection or cross-site scripting (XSS) [22]. The cloud also
relies on virtual machines (hypervisors), which mean any
compromises in the set up of the software used could
cause unauthorised access to sensitive data. Additionally,
cloud computing providers have multiple data centres at
different geographical locations in order to optimally
serve consumers’ needs around the world. In most cloud
service scenarios, consumers have no idea of where there
data is stored. Therefore, legal and regulatory issues arise
which require careful considerations because the physical
location of data centres determines the set of laws that can
govern the management of data.
Cloud computing comprises of different
deployment models nevertheless each service comes with
its own security issues. Thus, to guarantee the security of
corporate data in the cloud is difficult, if not impossible
[23]. In Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model, for
example, the security responsibility of the underlying
infrastructure and abstraction layers belong to the cloud
service provider, while the remainder of the stack is the
consumer’s responsibility. Organisations, before moving
applications outside their corporate firewalls, should be
aware of the data intrusion risks associated with such an
environment.
IaaS cloud models are prone to attacks like XML
Signature Element Wrapping [24] – this is a well-known
attack on protocols using XML Signature such as SOAP
(that stands for Simple Object Access Protocol) messages.
These protocols are used to provide authentication for
messaging through the web. With Platform as a Service
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY-BASED INVESTIGATION
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume XXIV, Number 1, 2013
10
(PaaS) model, the security of the platform used for
development is the service provider’s responsibility, but
the security of the applications developed is the
responsibility of the consumers. Concerns about cloud
service integrity and binding issues with PaaS’ cloud
models should be given further consideration. PaaS
models are prone to cloud malware injection attacks and
metadata spoofing attack as described by Jensen [25].
In Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, the
service provider is responsible for, not only providing
physical and environmental security capabilities, but also
addresses the security control on the infrastructure,
applications and data. According to a Forrester research,
security concerns are the most commonly cited reason
why enterprises are not interested in SaaS [26]. A major
concern of SaaS is unauthorised access due to data being
transferred to a remote server thought the internet. This
might allow adversaries to obtain passwords, inspect data,
and modify or damage the data. This would be more
harmful in case of unauthorised access to sensitive
information such as payments details and information on
human resources. Denial of service attacks and network
failure present the availability concern of SaaS.
The lack of standards in cloud computing also
rise interoperability and manageability issues inside and
between cloud providers, with possible economic impacts.
Interoperability is concerned with the migration and
integration of applications and data between different
vendor’s clouds. Whereas standardisation, strives to
support applications by different service vendors to
interoperate with one another, exchange traffic, and
cooperatively interact with data as well as protocols for
joint coordination and control [27].
In the absence of standardisation, SMEs willing
to outsource and combine the range of services from
different cloud providers to achieve maximum efficiency,
will experience difficulty when trying to get their in-
house (legacy) systems to interact with the cloud
providers system. Likewise, the lack of standardization
may also bring disadvantages, when migration,
integration, or exchanges of resources are required. The
main negative aspect is the necessity of factoring
applications to comply with other cloud Application
Programming Interfaces (APIs), which can possibly lead
to higher costs, delays and risks, thus opposing agility,
efficiency, and low costs [28]. In the aforementioned,
reconfiguration of systems and applications to achieve
interoperability are time consuming and thus, require a
considerable amount of expertise, which could be
challenging for SMEs. Further, interoperability and
portability will give rise to standard reusability, which in
turn will lead to faster cloud deployment [29].
Therefore, SMEs considering cloud-based
services should be aware of the associated risks and
vulnerabilities before adopting them for critical
applications or sensitive information. SMEs might be
interested in migrating gradually by starting from some of
the non-core business/mission-critical applications to the
cloud environment. But a common challenge associated
with many cloud migration projects is on how effectively
the migration risks are identified.
CONCLUSION
In this paper, the cloud computing concept,
architecture, and services have been briefly discussed. A
survey of 300 SMEs in the UK results that SMEs are
highly interested in cloud computing that enables them to
reduce costs, improve flexibility and scalability. These
benefits are seen by SMEs as key driving reasons to adopt
cloud computing services. However, the rapid increase in
corporate data, placed in the cloud, has raised issues
concerning security, vendor lock-in, and complications
with data privacy and data protection. Consequently, this
resulted in the slow growth of cloud computing adoption.
As a result, In order to convince more SMEs to
adopt cloud computing, these issues need to be addressed.
The privacy challenge for cloud-based software architects,
demands the design of a service in a way that security
risks is reduced, whilst ensuring legal compliance. In
other words, safety of data should be placed at the front
and centre in the design process of any cloud service.
Cloud providers should implement regulatory
compliances that cover operational and security areas that
users may have concerns about. Theses compliances
would improve the security by having cloud vendors and
customers to be securely certified. It would also reduce
the concerns of interoperability and portability. Cloud
vendors should provide details of their security police to
include risk management, access control, network
security, physical security, and backup and system
recovery. They should also provide details of how
customers’ systems would be segregated from others in a
multi-tenant environment. However, often cloud providers
tend not to reveal more details about their systems and
data centres, claiming doing so would compromise their
security.
Still, cloud computing is a winsome venture for
SMEs but it certainly takes a good business sense and
steps in order to fully reap its benefits. Organisations
should learn to rationalise their business needs and
priorities, their business applications, and their on-
premise data, and then consolidate their infrastructure
accordingly.
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY-BASED INVESTIGATION
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume XXIV, Number 1, 2013
11
REFERENCES
[1] Pauly, M. “T-Systems Cloud-Based Solutions for
Business Applications,” Cloud Computing: Principles
and Paradigms (eds R. Buyya, J. Broberg and A.
Goscinski), John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, USA,
January 3, 2011. [2] European Commission. “The New SME Definition: User
Guide and Model Declaration”,
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/files/sme_defi
nition/sme_user_guide_e n.pdf. 2005 (Accessed on
27/12/2012).
[3] Primus. “Cloud computing for SMEs: bandwagon or
good business strategy?”, http://www.primustel.ca/en/business/news/articles/2011/2
011-09-22_Cloud-computing-for-SMEs.php, 2011
(Accessed on 27/12/2012).
[4] Lozano, B. and Marks, A.E. “Executive’s Guide to Cloud
Computing” John Wiley & Sons, eBook, 2010, 302p.
[5] David, W. C. “Cloud computing Key Initiative
Overview”,
http://www.gartner.com/resources/173600/173626/
cloud_computing_key_initiati_173626.pdf, 2010
(Accessed on 27/12/2012)
[6] Leimeister, S., Christoph, R., Markus,B., and Helmut,K.
“The Business Perspective of Cloud Computing: Actors,
Roles and Value Networks.” European Conference on
Information Systems, 2010.
[7] Mell, P. and Grance, T. “The NIST Definition of Cloud
Computing”,
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-
145.pdf, 2011 (Accessed on 27/12/2012).
[8] Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, ACCA.
“A Digital agenda for European SMEs”,
http://www.accaglobal.org.uk/content/dam/acca/glo
bal/PDF-technical/small-business/pol-afb-adaf.pdf, 2011 (Accessed on 27/12/2012).
[9] Craig, D. “How Are SMBs Viewing the Cloud?”,
http://www.constructioncloudcomputing.com/index
.php?s=Are+SMBs+Viewing+the+Cloud, 2012
(Accessed on 27/12/2012).
[10] Mohan, T. S. “Migrating into a Cloud,” Cloud
Computing: Principles and Paradigms (eds R. Buyya, J.
Broberg and A. Goscinski), John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
Hoboken, NJ, USA, 2011.
[11] IBM. “IBM Offers New Cloud Computing, Business
Analytics Resources For Channel Partners”,
http://www.crn.com/news/channel-
programs/229218708/ibm-offers-new-cloud-
computing-business-analytics-resources-for-
channel-partners.html, 2011 (Accessed on
27/12/2012).
[12] Liu,F., Tong,J., Mao,J., Bohn,R., Messina, J., Badger,L.,
and Leaf,D. “NIST Cloud Computing Reference
Architecture”,
http://www.isaca.org/Groups/Professional-English/cloud-
computing/GroupDocuments/909505.pdf, 2011
(Accessed on 27/12/2012).
[13] Wilson,J. “The Benefits of Cloud Computing for
SMEs”, http://cloudcomputing.sys-
con.com/node/1993332, 2012 (Accessed on 27/12/2012).
[14] Perry, C., Cavaye,A., and Coote,L. “Technical and social
bonds within business-to business relationships” Journal
of Business & Industrial Marketing, Emerald, Vol. 17 Iss:
1 pp.75–88, 2002.
[15] Chalef,D. “10 Cloud-Based Apps That Give Mid-Sized
Companies a Competitive Edge”,
https://www.knowledgetree.com/blog/2011/03/5/10-
cloud-based-apps-give-mid-sized-companies-
competitive-edge, 2011 (Accessed on 27/12/2012).
[16] Almorsy M., Grundy, J., and Ibrahim, A. “Collaboration-
Based Cloud Computing Security Management
Framework”,
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?reload=tru
e&arnumber=6008731, 2011 (Accessed on 27/12/2012).
[17] Star UK. “Can Cloud Computing give you the freedom
to be more strategic?”,
http://www.montal.com/newsletters/Jan10/STAR_04120
9.pdf. 2009 (Accessed on 27/12/2012).
[18] Brookbanks, M. “More Clouds Coming” IT Now
Magazine, pp.16-19, 2010.
[19] Damoulakis, J. “Data Sharing and Personal Liberty:
Using Cloud Securely and The Benefits for Business” IT
Now Magazine, pp. 11-15, 2010.
[20] Grayson, I. “SMEs Find Brighter Prospect in Cloud
Computing”,
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/small-
business/smes-find-brighter-prospects-in-cloud-
computing/story-e6frg9hf-1226148256758, 2011
(Accessed on 27/12/2012).
[21] GoGrid. “Cloud computing adoption slower than
expected”,
http://www.gogrid.com/news/2012/02/22/public-
cloud-cloud-computing-adoption-slower-expected,
2012 (Accessed on 27/12/2012).
[22] Devine,.S.D. “Flying too Close to the Sun Can be a
Risky Business”,
http://www.lyonsdown.co.uk/publications/2011/infosec.p
df, 2011 (Accessed on 27/12/2012).
[23] Kandukuri, B.R, Paturi,V.R., and Rakshit,A. “Cloud
Security Issues” IEEE International Conference on
Services Computing, pp. 517-20, 2009.
[24] McIntosh,M., and Austel,P. “XML Signature Element
Wrapping Attacks and Countermeasures” SW’05:
Preceedings of the 2005 Workshop on Secure, Web
Services. ACM Press, pp. 20-27, 2005.
[25] Jensen, M., Gruschka,N., and Iacono,L. “On Technical
Security Issues in Cloud Computing” IEEE International
Conference on Cloud Computing, pp. 109-116,2009.
[26] Forrester Research. “Top Corporate Software Priority Is
Modernizing Legacy Applications”, http://www.imakenews.com/avnet_bio/e_article0014594
82.cfm?x=bfQ4d5j,b817d1c4,w, 2009 (Accessed on
27/12/2012).
CLOUD COMPUTING FROM SMES PERSPECTIVE: A SURVEY-BASED INVESTIGATION
Journal of Information Technology Management Volume XXIV, Number 1, 2013
12
[27] Yoo,C.S. “Cloud Computing: Architectural and Policy
Implications”,
http://techpolicyinstitute.org/files/yoo%20architectural_a
nd_policy_implications.pdf, 2010 (Accessed on
27/12/2012).
[28] Machado,G.S., Hausheer,D., and Stiller,B.
“Considerations on the Interoperability of and between
Cloud Computing Standards”,
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=
10.1.1.155.51, 2010 (Accessed on 27/12/2012).
[29] Craig, D. “Constructing cloud computing”,
http://www.constructioncloudcomputing.com/2010/
09/27/construction-compliance-finds-home-in-the-
cloud/, 2010 (Accessed on 27/12/2012).
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
Reza Sahandi is an Associate Dean – Head of
Creative Technology in the School of Design,
Engineering and Computing at Bournemouth University
in the UK. Dr Sahandi’s research areas have been in
computer networks and multimedia and he has supervised
and examined many PhD students. He has published over
25 refereed conference and journal papers.
Adel Alkhalil is a PhD student in the School of
Design, Engineering and Computing at Bournemouth
University. His research area is in cloud computing and
security under supervision of Dr Reza Sahandi.
Justice Opara-Martins is a PhD student at
Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom. He
completed his MSc in Wireless and Mobile Networks
(WMNs) at Bournemouth University (BU) and also has
BSc in Information and Communication Technology from
Southampton Solent University. He is an associate
member of the British Computer Society (BCS) and
Association for Project Managers (APM).